Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Romance Genre Heroes

Romance: What is a hero to you? I am judging a few contests and finding that the heroes are murderers...yes, they had hideous childhoods, were greatly wronged, are incredibly sexy. But they killed...OR, they are weak to begin with, which means a greater, more heroic character ARC. Can I accept these as heroes? What do you think?

This is also germaine because Zach in Ghost Seer needs to be more heroic, I believe. One of my crit buddies said he (crit buddy), liked that Zach needed more work, but my first reaction is "he's too weak, that won't keep me readers." So I am basing MY reactions on what I think my readers prefer. That is absolutely all right, but it IS self-limiting. Has my genre expanded and I'm not catching up?

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Original Dictation Notes on HeartMate

Original dictation notes on HeartMate.
Celta Thursday: These are rough notes I dictated in (mumbledy-mumble year) when I was first thinking of HeartMate. Gave me a little jolt when I realized I'd changed Danith's name from Tanith...
****
She is an orphan, brought up by the Maidens of Saille. So, even though she wants a family, what she wants is a large--
She's involved now, not intimately, but dating, with an Italian-type guy, a large, brash, bourgeois family. She loves the family more than she loves him. She wants the family and she wants the family life. All our hero can offer her is himself and a future family, and his line always only tends to one or two.
**HE IS UNEASY WHEN HE REALIZES THAT ALL HE CAN OFFER TANITH IS HIMSELF.**

Eventually, in the end, he can think about adopting people into his family to satisfy our heroine's need for a large family.

The fact that he's of from a Great family will sort of intimidate her. She doesn't want those duties, she doesn't want to be that public, she doesn't want the lifestyle, she doesn't want to move in those circles or associate with those people. And he doesn't have a family to offer her. Only himself.

She does, however, have an artistic drive -- a weaver collages/weavings/hangings/quilts. Also a creative person. **(but still in the closet with him, for as long as she can be), sees house & it cries out for art? Gets her fingers itching? Association with him = Passages, plus seeing empty walls? Nice!**
Johansen? book

Day job: Minor accountant in a lesser house, bourgeoise house. Accountant, clerk, sees something and doesn't realize it's dangerous knowledge, but whoever knows that she saw it (piece of paper) knows that its dangerous knowledge to him and she might eventually remember it.

Need to give her a Talent. Dexterity? He has a Talent for jewelry so. Maybe she's doing the wrong thing creatively, trying to be an embroiderer when she should be a weaver.

Talent with distilling?

He might ask her about daily divinations, what does she use? Does she do a daily divination? & she'll give him an odd look and he'll know that she does, and he'll ask what she drew,
Ask what she uses and she'll say cards, and he'll ask what she drew.

Someone coming into the store, a man, that could distract him.
*** AND SO HOLM WAS CREATED.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Death/Banishment/Other vote for Ruis Elder in Heart Thief.

Death/Banishment/Other vote for Ruis Elder in Heart Thief. That is coming below. On Facebook, I excerpted a favorite scene from Heart Thief for a fan who was having a birthday. Since this goes out to amazon and good reads and that scene came late in the book and contains spoilers, I am not posting it here -- it was also very long.

So here's the vote along with my notes:

T'Birch - Death (Birches in Heart Thief, not HeartMated)

T'Rowan - Death (T'Rowan dies in Heart Thief, D'Rowan, HeartMate is burned, follows within a few weeks).

D'Alder - Banishment (not HeartBonded)

D'Willow - Death

She is a widow, so she must not have had a HeartMate. This may be another reason she resents her Daughter'sSon so much.

D'Vine dies in Heart Thief, her heir T'Vine, Vinni is in Heart Duel. D'Vine is an old widow, she wasn't HeartBonded. She knows that her Heir, Vinni, can lose his HeartMate before they bond and warns him.

D'Ceylon, second daughter of GreatHouse Vine is head of her own Household and has a 96% accuracy for reading tea leaves.

T'Ivy - Banishment (T'Ivy and D'Ivy are in HeartMate)
Had a wife, now has a HeartMate of the Aloe Family

T'Reed - Death (T'Reed is in Heart Thief) NOT HeartBonded

T'Blackthorn - Absent (T'Blackthorn is in Heart Thief, his story is Heart Trail)
HeartBonded to Mitchella Clover

T'Elder - Death (T'Elder dies in Heart Thief, who succeeds?)
Not HeartBonded, wife from T'Reed Family

D'SilverFir - Absent (D'SilverFir's story is Heart Thief, she abdicates to her heir Caltha in Heart Thief, she's in Heart Duel)

D'SilverFir is HeartBonded to Ruis Elder. Her mother was not HeartBonded, her MotherSire was. Does this play a part in her story?

Monday, April 15, 2013

Indoor Maps Fun

Indoor Maps, hand drawn for myself to keep track of choreography. Currently I have a little stack of 6. I'll post, you can guess and I'll give you a hint. One a day. :) First up (note folded in half to hide a hint). I'll give a treat to the first person who identifies this. ;) A cut scene or something from their favorite book? EFORMAT, so .pdf.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Interview with T'Ash about his tattoo

Interview with T'Ash about his tattoo

Robin: Hey, T'Ash, I didn't know you had a tattoo.
T'Ash: (smirking) You thought you knew everything about me. Ha!
Robin: (in a small voice) ha ha. (clearing her throat) Tell me about your tattoo.
T'Ash: (raising an eyebrow: You've never heard how the vengeance stalk marks one?
Robin: Uh, no.
T'Ash: It does.
Robin: Do tell.
T'Ash: (staring off into the distance at the starship Nuada's Sword): The tattoo is a matter of Flair, of psi power. I believe it first developed on the generation ships. (He shrugs). You can research that better than I, you are more interested in it than I.
Robin: I 'spose. It was sorta sprung on me.
T'Ash: Now you know how being manipulated feels like.
Robin: Tell me more about the tattoo.
T'Ash: When a person formally dedicates themself to the vengence stalk, the tattoo appears, stinging, on the body. Mine is black and red. It is an aspect of the god Arawn, god of vengence. He holds a heart, which means he holds the heart of the one who has sworn revenge. The heart is not then available to give to a mate until the stalk is done.
Robin: Huh.
T'Ash: Is that all?
Robin: Um, so, uh, you had it on the vengence stalk.
T'Ash: Didn't I just say so?
Robin: Yes.
T'Ash: (scowling and looking away, mutters) It also showed up when I went berserk, during the fights with the gangs in HeartMate. No one saw it, but it burned on my arm. I think. I did not look. I was fighting.
Robin: Of course.
T'Ash: I have never felt it since. Never gone berserk since. I will not do so again. (glaring at Robin) Right?
Robin (too heartily): Of course you won't. You got a happily ever after ending and will continue to have one.
T'Ash (narrowing his eyes): I think I see that you have something bad in my future. (putting his hand on his blazer sheathed at his hip). You'd better not hurt my Family.
Robin (licking her lips): Uh, well, you wouldn't want things TOO perfect, would you?
T'Ash: Yes:
Robin: Oh. Well, I may have, uh, an idea, but you will all survive. I promise.
After a dirty look, T'Ash stalks away.

Sunday, April 07, 2013

Research Pic, today LoDo/Downtown Denver

I walked around LoDo and Downtown this am for research pics (all right, parking is free on Sunday, but next time I'll go when there isn't a Rockies game): Clare, uptight accountant heroine is having real problems with ghosts here in Ghost Seer (though not a Sun am, a business day Happy Hour). Note the deep doors...

As always, may you enjoy all the places you visit today, real or imaginary.
Robin

Thursday, April 04, 2013

A Taste of Celta: Interview with T'Ash of HeartMate

A Taste of Celta: Interview with T'Ash of HeartMate
Robin: Hey, T'Ash.
T'Ash: Greetyou.
Robin: Tell me a little about yourself. Why don't we start out with the physical?
T'Ash: GLARES. Why?
Robin: I need to know more about you so I can do your story justice.
T'Ash: SNORTS. Huh. I don't care to talk about myself, to be--
Robin: Vulnerable.
T'Ash: SPITS.
Robin: Really, T'Ash.
T'Ash: GRINS. Like that, are you? Sort of like Danith?
Robin: (uncomfortable) Come on, T'Ash, please? CLEARS THROAT. The basics, including physical?
T'Ash: Can't you see?
Robin: WINCES. Puh-lease?
T'Ash: SIGHS HEAVILY. My name is T'Ash. Head of the GreatHouse Ash. It is who and what I am. I am less than 2 meters tall and of a wide build, both inherent in my genes from my family and because I am not only a jeweler, but a smith. My eyes are blue. Light blue, I suppose you would say, and to be precise, the color of a sky-crystal. My hair is fine, thick and shoulder length, I don't pay much attention to it. I am 37. Sometimes I feel old.

Robin: Any distinctive physical marks?
T'Ash: You mean scars. Yes, I have scars. From my Downwind boyhood, from the vengeance stalk. Blaser scars, knife scars. I have hard, working hands with callouses, but am not any sort of beast, my body hair is light.

Robin: What are your favorite clothes?
T'Ash: Why should this matter? None. I like the embroidery on my cuffs, showing I'm T'Ash. When I was a child, I never anticipated being T'Ash, it was beyond the realm of possibility. My oldest brother Nuin would be T'Ash.

Robin: CLEARING THROAT AGAIN. Have you been married before?
T'Ash: You jest. I slake my needs in the willing bodies of tavern wenches, pay them well. Noble ladies and their seductive glances make me wary, they do not charge a price up front, so who knows how much they will soak you for? Never married because I was busy walking the vengeance stalk, re-establishing my GreatHouse, rebuilding my Great House, practicing my Flair with gems and making my reputation as a jeweler and my shop, T'Ash's Phoenix, a success. I have been extremely busy. I -- I must admit I crafted a HeartGift during my last Passage, many years ago, 17. I briefly touched my HeartMate then, so I know one soul is made for mine. Why should I settle for anyone else? So, I wait.

Robin: Good idea. Any children?
T'Ash: I am not a libertine. No.
Robin: How about your father?
T'Ash: What of yours?
Robin: Let's not.
T'Ash: See how YOU like questions? SIGHS. Father was Nuin, as all the first sons of Ash GreatHouse are named Nuin T'Ash. He had the responsibilities of the head of a Thirteen First Family, the head of our own family. His Father, FatherSire Nuin, had retired, being bedridden. Father's Flair was for Storms. Lightning. Thunder. He could predict, cause, deter. That's what he did when called upon by the Noble Council. He taught my brothers and me to fight. He paid more attention to my brother Nuin, of course, teaching him the things he should know to be House Head. I loved Father, he was hard but fair. Father's dead, he perished with Mother and Nuin and Gwidion. I, the youngest, survived.

Robin: And your mother?
T'Ash: MOUTH TWISTS. Mother was Jasmine. And she smelled of jasmine, not the Earth plant, but the hybrid Celtan. What a scent. It haunts me sometimes. She made perfumes, light things, she didn't have a great Flair, but was a daughter of a GraceHouse. But my father loved her. They were HeartMates. She chose to die with him. I think she could have 'ported from the window. I guess the firebombspell, the explosion, smoke and fire was too quick for the others to 'port out. I don't know. Rue, the bastard, said if the fire gained a touch on you, it would eat you. I don't know if that happened. I don't know why they couldn't escape. Father would have checked on my brothers, Nuin and Gwidion, then me, first, before 'porting to the HouseHeart or outside, where I watched. I can't recall, now, how quickly everything happened. Except in dreams. Ah, Mother. Father loved Mother. Nuin loved Mother. Gwidion loved Mother. I loved Mother, too.

Robin: How about your schooling?
T'Ash: You have a stupid list. Why do you wish to know? I was schooled at home by FatherSire, Father, Mother and tutors until I was six. Then. Do you mock me? It is true I grew up Downwind, so I learned to survive and be smart on the streets. I can protect what I own. My Flair had just blossomed before the destruction of my family. I had undergone my first Passage, so I knew a little on how to develop it. And I had the book, the history of the Ash family, I had been reading it when Rue and his scruffs took the Great House. So, I did go to a drunken old woman who was once a GrandHouse lady. I paid her precious pennies to give me a smattering of manners, to help me with my speech, even though I continue to lapse into Downwind shortspeech now and again. You would be wise not to ever hint that my education is lacking. I have mastered my Flair, and it is powerful. I weathered three Passages. I can smith weapons, I can quarry stones and shape them, I make excellent pieces of jewelry, all with my Flair. I learned most of this on my own, but for two years I apprenticed with a glistensmith on the edges of Downwind. He was a scruff, a scroungy, stingy master, but he knew his trade and I learned it. My reputation is great and will get greater. My work is sought after. I can turn down commissions and craft what I please. Don't forget that.

Robin: Any previous occupations?
T'Ash: When I was a youth Downwind, it was whatever I had to do. Steal. I didn't do much begging, I came into my size in my early 'teens. Nor did I whore. When I was young and nubile, I scuttled around like a frightened mouse. By the time I was older and tougher, I had other means to me than selling my body, even then I had an affinity for stones. I made divination dice, polished and imbued cheap jewelry and amulets with charms. Things of that sort.

Robin: Your skills?
T'Ash: IMPATIENT LOOK Haven't you been paying attention? I am the best with stones, my Flair is great, I rarely lose a fight. I can design and create new patterns for jewelry and weapons and divination dice. I am a tolerable shopkeeper.

Robin: What was the worst thing that happened as a child?.
T'ASH: SCOWLS. You know. I don't need to say it again.

Robin: Then the worst thing that happened as an adult?
T'ASH: CONSIDERING. I would like to say my last Passage, but that was not so fearful to me as the last two fights that I was in on the vengeance stalk. I went berserk. I deeply fear that. I hate the idea of all that uncontrolled violence within me. Let's not talk about it.

Robin: Your best childhood memory?
T'ASH: I've been having trouble with my memories, even the good ones. I will have to think on this. Waking up on one warm and sunny day, my Nameday? Having all of my wishes fulfilled? A picnic in the grassyard and games later. My Mother holding me. My Father placing his hand on my shoulder in pride. He did that once.

Robin: What about your best adult memory?
T'ASH: Hard to say. Triumph when I got my title and my GreatHouse back, when my family's murderers were dead or banished and I was vindicated before the entire Noble Council. That was sweet. I also felt good when my shop was a success and I knew that my Flair for jewelry was prized. Or when I saw the last layer of armourcrete go onto my new Residence. All very good memories.

Robin: What does your best friend think of you?
T'ASH: BLINKS. My best friend, Holm Holly, thinks that I am too staid lately, that I don't take enough chances or risks. That I have ordered my life too much. I like it this way. Adventurous lives are frightening lives. But most of all they are dangerous lives. I cannot have danger in my life because I haven't yet refounded my line.

Robin: What of money?
T'ASH: I don't think about money too much. My annual income is such that I don't need the annual noble gilt allowed to me, don't want it. I prefer to earn my own through my Flair and my pieces. I charge much and receive it. My jewelry is worth it.

Robin: Who was your most recent lover?
T'ASH: LOOKS ASIDE. I don't have a lover. I visit the taverns when the need is upon me. It doesn't matter which woman I have. I'm not celibate. Well, perhaps this last month or so. Sex is overrated, a physical release and nothing else. I know what a HeartMate marriage consists of. I will wait.

Robin: (glad the sex stuff is out of the way) What is your least liked social situation?
T'ASH: Noble society social events, not rituals, particularly if there are a lot of ladies. I am not comfortable around ladies, I know I am not smooth and do not express myself well.

Robin: Do you have a pet peeve?
T'ASH: AGAIN STARING.
Robin: (feeling really foolish)
T'ASH: A peeve? Something so trivial? A pet peeve. Ha! Zanth smells. He likes killing sewer rats and prowling Downwind, and when he comes back he reeks of this awful odor. Though he is not really a pet, he is my Fam.

Robin: Tell me about your best friend and how you met.
T'ASH: FLASHING A GRIN. Holm Holly. I met him when he got caught Downwind during his second Passage. I was in a tavern looking at my beer. He started a fight. T'ASH LAUGHS. Zanth took a couple of pieces out of a couple of scruffs. T'ASH SLANTS A LOOK AT ROBIN. You tell THAT story when you tell his story.

Robin: Maybe, come on, let's hear more.
T'ASH: BEGINNING TO FIDDLE WITH SOME JEWELRY WIRE IN HIS HANDS. Holm's emotions were too strong and influenced me to also flash Passage. I helped him, saved his life, during those innumerable death duels of his. He helped me on the vengeance stalk and before the council.

Robin: Do you have a pet?
T'ASH: A pet? Don't let Zanth hear you call him that. He is a Fam. A mature cat of common origin, but very large, some genetic strain there, I think. He is sentient, and my familiar and my family. He is a tom with an attitude. I love him.

Robin: You live in?
T'ASH: PAYING MORE ATTENTION TO WHAT HE IS DOING WITH BEADS AND THE WIRE INSTEAD OF THE QUESTIONS. I live in my rebuilt Residence.. T'ASH Residence>

Robin: And before that?
T'ASH: I lived in a guest cottage on the Holly compound before my Residence was built, but I spared no expense on the construction and it happened quickly with top-rated Flaired magecrafters. Before that I lived in a shack Downwind. Before that at my master's when I was an apprentice. Before that -- why think of this? Any hole I could find.

Robin: What do you admire most?
T'ASH: SERIOUS. I most admire whole GreatHouse families, with extended family members working together to perpetuate the line.

Robin: What would you never do?
T'ASH: I would never cheat, do something dishonorable, betray a friend. Why do we have to speak of this?

Robin: What do you want most?
T'ASH: I would most like to find my HeartMate and continue my life and my line. I want her to love me.

Robin: When working through a problem, you talk to.......?
T'ASH: Zanth. Even if I don't talk to him, he talks to me.

Robin: What do you procrastinate about?
T'ASH: Dealing with society women. I do not place myself in situations where any lady is expecting me to do anything whatsoever.

Robin: What do you dislike?
T'ASH: Asking for favors or exchanging services with the Thirteen First Families. You have to be careful, or you will lose more than you gain.

Robin: Your overriding need?
T'ASH: My overriding need or want is to win my HeartMate! She is here. I can have her and her love, and she will be the mother of my children and my line, the Ash GreatHouse, will be assured. This is important because no one has loved me for a long time. Or no human. Cats love in a different, more selfish manner. This is important because I am the last of my line, a line that began on Terra, before the generation ships, continued on the ships and on Celta. It must continue. I cannot let it die, to do so would be to betray my murdered family and all my ancestors.

Robin: What obstacles stand in your way?
T'ASH: I'll not let anything stand in my way. I will change the mind of my HeartMate, make her love her by my HeartGift. I am tired of talking to you. Too much talk and not enough action. Bide well. STALKS OFF.

Robin: SIGHS, BUT IS STILL SURPRISED SHE GOT SO MUCH OUT OF HIM IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Monday, April 01, 2013

Heart Fortune Copy Edits

First day of copy edits of Heart Fortune nearly done. Wrote a new scene and inserted it for more backstory/motivation, that will hopefully answer editor's concerns. Mentor really likes Glyssa, Jace is fine, and the hawkcel Fam, Zem, is wonderful to mentor...as for me, even after all the times I read this, a line surprised a laugh out of me, so I'm feeling good about the book.

Mentor said my fans will be pleased. WHEW.
Merry meet and merry part and merry meet again, Robin